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Philadelphia Skyscrapers / The Curse of Billy Penn

The two skyscrapers in the photograph are the second and third tallest buildings in Philadelphia. One Liberty Place (on the left) was the first building to break the gentlemen's agreement that forbade any building from exceeding the height of the William Penn statue on the Philadelphia City Hall. When One Liberty Place was built in 1987, it is widely believed that it started the "Curse of Billy Penn" resulting in Philadelphia major sports teams not winning any league championships. The curse ended in 2008 with the building of tallest skyscraper in 2008, Comcast Center on top of which workers placed a new statue. The same year, Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series.

The building on the right is Two Liberty Place, the third tallest building in Philadelphia.

Even in the 21st Century, Curses and superstitions are still very much part of culture. They make interesting stories and are often repeated in the news and sports news. Curses and superstitions explain the unexplainable; they seemingly help us comprehend the incomprehensible; and they might even have placebo or nocebo effects. Can we really attribute the success or failure of the Phillies to the Curse of Billy Penn, or is it simply just a coincidence? Even though we have made great progress in understanding things, will there always be "The Incomprehensible"?